1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a urological resectoscope and, more specifically, toward urological resectoscopes for children.
2. Description of Related Art
Such resectoscopes require being fitted with an especially narrow stem tube so they may be used in the still very narrow juvenile urethra. Accordingly, the stem tube encloses, by its almost pear-like, shape-matched cross-section, the cross-sections of the drive rod and of the optic tube. To minimize the cross-sections, the otherwise conventional double-tube design used in resectoscopes to create a second rinsing duct is eliminated.
A children's resectoscope of this kind is known from the applicant's catalog TRANSURETHRALE RESEKTION, pp 30-32, 1997. Catalog # A3753 on page 32 relates to and shows a surgical insert of which the surgical implement is a cutting loop. With respect to the grip situated below the operational direction, the cutting loop must be affixed above and, accordingly, the drive rod constituting the electrode support must run above the optic tube. In the known design, the cutting loop runs above the optic tube through the main casing as far as the slide element in which it is detachably affixed and with which it makes electrical contact. The resectoscope is shown without the associated stem tube A3750 and is denoted by the catalog #A3752.
Surgery involving children's urological resectoscopes in addition to an hf-loaded cutting loop also always require a cold knife with a cutting blade projecting from the drive rod. However, surgical conditions also require, in this respect, that the cutting blade project from bottom to top. As a result, the drive rod of such designs, which is shown on the cited catalog page by #A3748, must be mounted underneath the optical tube. The state of the art requires a second resectoscope, which is shown under catalog #A3745 without the associated stem tube A3744, where the drive rod runs underneath the optic tube as far as the slide element to which it is affixed.
Because the full resectoscope must be manufactured in two designs, the substantial added costs entail a drawback.